Learning to Pray, Part 3: First Things First
Type: Wednesday Evening Service
Series: Fresh Fire: Learning to Pray
Sermon: Part 3: First Things First
🗣️ Speaker: Pastor Tom Van Kempen
God’s kingdom is not a distant concept but a present reality that demands surrender, alignment, and action. Prayer is the means by which heaven invades earth, reshaping hearts, families, communities, and nations. When believers submit to God’s will and pray with faith and authority, they become instruments through which God advances His kingdom.
ℹ️ Tip: The video is set to start at the beginning of the sermon, but you can scrub the playhead to any part of the service. ℹ️
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Good evening.
Oh wow.
Love Wednesday nights.
I I'm just letting you know that that this is where the power is, this is where things happen, this is what's gonna change uh uh Oxford and Wildwood in Sumter County.
Who can say amen?
God's about to do something.
I that last song we sang, uh, I actually remember where I was nine years ago when I heard that song for the first time.
And uh that that line that says, uh you have no right, you have no rival
You have no equal.
Now and for ever my God reigns.
You guys remember that line?
When I heard that line.
Goosebumps popped all over my body.
And here we are nine years later, and the same thing happened tonight in my life
And so there are some songs that are good Christian songs, and then there are some songs that are anointed Christian songs.
And that one is anointed, so I just uh am glad that we were singing it tonight.
Uh it actually incorporates so much of what we've already been talking about.
over the last three weeks in our in our series for Wednesday night, Fresh Fire, Learning to Pray.
And I hope nobody takes offense to that title because we've all got something to learn.
Who can say amen?
I mean we're going back into uh uh the Lord's Prayer and you might have heard a dozen series on this, but that doesn't mean you know everything about it.
There's things to learn again and again.
There are things that we've forgotten that we need to relearn.
And so we're back into this scripture.
We're in Matthew chapter 6, verse 10 this time.
And this is what it says.
It's really an interesting part of this prayer.
I believe it's an unexpected part of this prayer when it regards to the disciples themselves.
Listen to what Jesus says.
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Uh could I have my assistant bring that up, please?
Um this is the verse that we're gonna focus on tonight.
Uh we're we got a lot of scripture to go over tonight, so I hope that you brought your Bibles or at least brought a notepad so that when you pay
Attention to the screens, you'll be able to write some of these things down.
But I I want you to be honest with yourself.
I want you to be honest before God.
Deep down, every single one of us believes that we were born to be king.
Right?
And the reason I say that is because you take a look at any two, any three-year-old, and they all believe that the world revolves around them.
And they establish a kingdom.
It's within their reach or within their eye gaze.
That is the kingdom of every child.
And here's the law that they live by.
If I see it, it's mine.
If I had it and dropped it, it's still mine.
If you're playing with it, it's definitely mine.
It's obvious that I had uh a number of children, isn't it?
Because they all acted this way.
They don't have a crown.
What they have is a crusty old sippy cup.
But they rule that living room or that bedroom or whatever it is with an iron fist.
The problem is many of us never grow up.
We get a mortgage, we get a job, but we don't actually abdicate the throne to God.
We just trade the simpic cup for a remote control.
Ouch, I know, I know, I know.
We still want to be king of our own little hill, but tonight, as we continue our fresh fire series on prayer, we hit probably the scariest
Portion of this prayer for any human being, your kingdom come.
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
What you don't realize is Jesus isn't saying this to be a pretty nice little prayer.
He's saying this because he's wanting to take over your entire life.
He doesn't want you to leave anything behind.
And so 2,000 years ago, Jesus showed up.
In a dusty Roman province called Palestine, and he started making people nervous.
He wasn't just a teacher, he was a proclaimer.
an announcer that something new was coming and this is what he said the kingdom of God is at hand
The kingdom of God is near.
And in announcing this brand new kingdom, I have nothing to really compare it to except what happened in 2022 with King Charles.
You guys might
remember uh queen elizabeth she died and immediately king charles took over he assumed the throne and and it was all neat and tidy it was all very orderly there was even a parade everyone knew the rules
But when Jesus announced his kingship, it was more like treason.
Why?
Because if Jesus is king, then Caesar is not king.
And that's one of the reasons why Jesus ended up in front of Pilate.
That's what we're going to be celebrating here in a couple of months during the Easter season.
And in response to that,
famous question when Pilate said, Are you a king?
Jesus simply said, Yes, I'm a king.
I am maybe not the king you're looking for, but I'm a new king, a new kind of king.
I love what John the Revelator says in Revelation 19, 16, and he referring to Jesus.
has on his robe and on his high on his thigh a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Would you say that with me?
King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Let's give him a round of applause.
Somebody wanted to clap that.
That's a good thing.
He is the King of Kings and he's the Lord of Lords.
Now, now listen to me very carefully.
Have you ever considered that when you come to Jesus in prayer, that you're coming to the King of the universe?
Have you ever thought about it?
Have you ever contemplated that that he is the king of of everything
I was reading through some some old poems and and here's one line from one of those old poems.
Thou art coming to a king
Large petitions we thee bring, for his grace and power are such, none can ever ask too much.
That is great, great news.
But in our culture, it's also bad news
In our culture, there is an innate struggle that every human being has.
If Jesus is the king, that means you're not.
In American Christianity, a lot of Christians love Jesus being king on Sundays.
Right?
But but don't don't interfere with my Mondays.
Don't interfere with my screen time.
Don't interfere with how I spend my money.
Don't interfere with the grudges that I have with other people.
You see, we build our own little grudge kingdom over here, and we build our own little screen time kingdom over here, and as long as God stays in his box Sunday mornings.
Then everything's okay.
But God wants all.
Say all.
He wants all of our lives.
He doesn't want us
To leave anything behind.
If Jesus is king, then we must abdicate the throne and become servants of his kingdom.
Who can say amen?
So how do we do that?
Well, we go back to that initial announcement that Jesus made.
And this is how he put it.
Repent, for the kingdom of God is near.
Repent, for the kingdom of God draws nigh.
In John chapter 3, verse 3, uh Jesus puts it a little different way to the Pharisee.
He says, unless you are born again
Again, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Later on, he says, you cannot see the kingdom of God.
So this whole idea of repenting, this whole idea of
being born again Jesus is is communicating that a radical change has to take place you literally in a spiritual sense become a baby again and you're totally and completely remade
And what does that entail?
Simply admitting to our sins.
Acknowledging that we are totally and completely helpless
and can't do anything about our own sinfulness, and voluntarily submitting our lives to Jesus as our new Lord, master, sovereign, king.
He owns everything.
Who can say amen?
So why the word kingdom?
I mean what's the idea behind that?
And so scripture talks about this a lot in the New Testament.
It's obviously not a physical kingdom.
Jesus made reference to this a number of times.
If it was a physical kingdom, you know, I would have my armies do something about what's taking place.
But it's not a physical kingdom.
We're not trying to overthrow the political establishment even though we would like to.
Right?
There are a lot of things I'd like to change.
Jesus isn't trying to open a theme park.
It's not the magic kingdom.
What's so magic about Disneyland anyway?
You mortgage your house to get in.
You pay $20 for a hamburger.
Eleven doll now for a turo, did you know that?
When the kingdom of God, you don't pay a cent to get in.
Of course, you do owe your entire life every day afterwards, so that might be why some people don't want to do it.
This kingdom is not a religious kingdom.
In other words, it's not about the rules, although there are
rules.
Listen to what Paul says in Romans chapter 14, verse 17.
For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, not physical, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
So we're talking about some kind of some internal spiritual kind of kingdom.
Something that first
Changes us as individuals from the inside out, a kingdom that makes its citizens righteous.
It brings us peace, it brings us joy.
So if you're not experiencing that, you're missing out on what this kingdom is all about.
Jesus' very entry into the world was from the beginning a brand new kingdom.
However, Jesus is now in heaven.
So how does God's kingdom infiltrate the world?
I'm asking.
Through us?
What do we have to do?
We pray.
Prain brings God's kingdom into this world.
That's how it's manifested.
Jesus says
Pray, pray, pray, pray, your kingdom come.
Pray, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
And when we do that, we're asking God that his rule
that is perfectly established in heaven would invade our lives and our planet.
Who can say amen?
There needs to be an invasion, and we're a part of the invasion force.
Now, if you look at this scripture right here, you'll see that uh the new King James says on earth.
The old King James says, in earth.
Now listen to me.
I don't want to make a big deal out of a uh a two-letter word or I don't know.
I think it's two letters in the Greek language too.
But
There is possible different connotations to both of those.
If we're talking about on earth, we are praying that God will transform the planet.
And I'm not talking about the planet, the people on the planet.
We're praying that God will close the gap between heaven and earth.
And we're praying that God will transform this world into a place that is more like heaven.
Does that make sense to everybody?
The older translations all say in earth.
And so I started thinking about that this week, and I'm knowing that
the Bible or the the writers of the Holy Spirit didn't really believe that that we're talking about the core of the planet.
And so I started looking up the word
earth and and what's it's associated with and in the Septuagint and all this kind of stuff.
And sometimes the same word here is used all the way back in Genesis chapter 2 when
God made Adam out of the earth.
And I started thinking, oh,
So so yeah, God wants to transform the planet, but that'll never happen unless He transforms me first
And so when when we're praying, God, God, we we want your kingdom come and your will be done in earth.
As it is in heaven, we're talking about us as individuals.
We literally want this to be a little bit more personal.
We're praying for God to bring his kingdom into my life.
We're praying that God will close the gap between Jesus and me and that I'll look a little more like Jesus every single day.
Who can say amen?
Every single day I just want to look a little bit more like Jesus.
Point number two.
This leads us to aligning our lives with this new king.
And here's where prayer takes a slight turn from what most people think.
Most people go to God and pray for their needs.
Most people, Christians, non-Christians, no matter who it is who are praying, they want something from their higher power.
They want something from God.
But in this particular prayer, our needs no longer take priority
Jesus is teaching that you don't run to God and just start asking for things.
Now this is a generalization.
There are 911 prayers.
There are times to run to Jesus for this, okay?
But but but he's setting it a model, a standard for us.
And he says, make sure you put first things first.
And the number one priority when it comes to prayer is God's will, not yours.
Listen
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done.
We haven't even got to the petitions and the prayer yet.
We begin by praying for God's will to be done on this planet.
We have to align with his will.
Just a few verses later, Jesus says in Matthew chapter 6, verse 33: Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all of these things, the same priority all of a sudden.
It's first God in his kingdom and then the things that you need.
The Lord's Prayer is therefore an ordering of our priorities
He is saying rather than being so self-consumed, the first order of business is coming to prayer for God's kingdom's sake.
The bottom line is we all have a will, we all have needs, we all have things that we we want God to do for us, and we need to understand that his
vision for your life and for your family, for your church, for the world is bigger than anything we can imagine.
He'll share it with us if we ask, but we have to get in alignment with him.
God's will must always, say always, it must always come first.
Prayer is not getting your wish list sent to a cosmic butler who does whatever you want.
Prayer is a relinquishment of your will, your rights, your desires, and everything you have.
Jesus sets the example in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Remember?
He's here.
He knows he's going to the cross.
And he prays three times, Lord.
If this cup can pass me, let's let this thing go.
And he says, but not my will be done, your will.
Not my will, your will.
God's will is always, say always again, it's always best
Now again, this this is hard to believe sometimes, because sometimes his best overall will doesn't feel best in the moment.
And that's why we have to remember he's still our Father.
He knows what's good for us.
He knows what will build our character.
He knows what will make things happen.
But Romans 12, 2 says that his will is good, pleasing, and perfect.
Perfect.
I hear people say, well, I just don't know what God's will is.
And then they say, well, I just wish God would give me a sign.
And I was reading a story, a woman in Atlanta, she asked God for a sign, and they made spaghetti, and she saw the face of Jesus in a fork full of her spaghetti.
She believed it was a sign.
Listen to me.
If you're looking for God's will in your pasta, it's not going to be there.
If you think God's will is up in the clouds, it's not going to be found there either.
He left his will in a book, and that book is called the Bible.
Do you understand?
It's God's last will and testament.
It is his plan for your life.
It's exactly what he wants you to do.
So I'm not talking about some weird, mysterious will that you cannot
Find it is found in the Word of God.
God's Word literally contains the battle plan for our lives.
Let me just give you a couple of verses, okay?
1 Peter 2.
15, for this is the will of God.
Do good.
And listen, it goes on to say, by doing good you silence people.
You literally silence the enemy when you do good.
He can't accuse you when you do good.
1 Thessalonians 5, 17 and 18.
Pray without ceasing.
In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God.
Praying is God's will.
Being grateful is God's will.
I'm giving you God's will.
Yeah, yeah, but Pastor, I want to know who I'm gonna marry.
Pastor, Pastor, I I want to know what I'm supposed to do with my life.
Those things are secondary.
Character is most important.
Character is what we need to focus on.
The scripture says part of God's will is that we be holy.
A part of God's will is that we pray for our enemies.
A part of God's will is that we love one another.
A part of God's will, which is just in the next chapter, Matthew chapter 7, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
The scripture is filled with God's will for each and every one of us.
And if we grasp onto what we know, he will share what we don't know.
Who can say amen?
You don't have to worry about those other things.
They'll all make sense.
God's word number two exposes the enemy's tactics.
This is extremely important for us to understand.
2 Corinthians 2.
11, so that Satan will not outsmart us, for we are familiar with his evil schemes.
And if you're not familiar with this passage of scripture, he's specifically talking about the sin of unforgiveness.
This is a malady on the church right now.
I'm not talking about our church
I'm talking about there there are people who go to church all across the world and they hold aught against their brothers and sisters.
They're angry at somebody.
Sometimes they're mad at people that have died 10 years ago, and they've still not released it in the name of Jesus Christ.
And Paul's saying in 2 Corinthians, he's saying, Don't you understand?
That's one of the ploys, one of the schemes, one of the tactics of the devil.
You need to release those things, not for their benefit, for your benefit.
It stifles God moving in your life when you hold unforgiveness in your heart.
Number three, God's word is a weapon to ensure victory.
Ephesians chapter 6 verse 17 says this, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
There is no more effective form of prayer than praying the word.
Are you hearing me?
I mean, I imagine what I think I should say sometimes.
I write out what I should say sometimes.
I ask God for wisdom sometimes.
But when I go to the Bible, I can pray the perfect will of God.
If I say, God, make me holy, do you think he's going to say no?
Lord, help me to be more grateful.
He'll never say no.
Help me to be more like Jesus.
Every time we do something like that, we know we're praying in alignment with the Word of God.
This is literally the most effective form of praying.
Find verses that apply to your situation and pray them again and again and again.
This is how we advance God's kingdom.
I think I've already told this story, but it it it's so foundational in my own life
My mother had some real struggles in her life.
And because of her struggles, uh
The spirit of fear haunted her on a regular and consistent basis.
There were times where where she was so afraid.
That she wouldn't go out of the house for long stretches of time.
And I think there was a a two or three-year period where she never did anything.
And and and finally the word of God started uh
Helping her.
The word of God started started getting her out of those situations.
But because of a an authority figure in my life, I also was afraid.
That spirit of fear that haunted her came upon me too.
And I remember in junior high and high school especially, I was afraid of all kinds of things.
I wanted to run for student government, but I was afraid nobody would vote for me.
I wanted to go out with this girl on a date, but I was afraid she'd say no.
Uh all of a sudden it started getting worse and worse and worse.
I started getting afraid to turn off the lights at night.
I I mean here I am a fifth.
15, 16, 17-year-old young man.
And I can't go to bed because the dark is scaring me.
I'm looking under the bed at night for monsters and different things like that.
And so I come across this verse that we preached early on this year, 2 Timothy chapter 1.
God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of
Power, love, and a sound mind.
So you know what I did?
I recorded that on a tape recorder.
For 30 straight minutes.
Over and over and over again.
I turned it over, recorded it for another 30 straight minutes.
And for the last two years of my high school at my house, I would listen to that every night going to bed.
And if I woke up in the middle of the night, I would turn it over and listen to it again until I fell asleep.
And eventually I won the victory.
Who can say amen?
I'm not afraid any longer.
It took a number of years.
It wasn't overnight.
But improvements started within the year.
Deliverance probably took about
a decade to take place.
But after 10 years, fear no longer haunted me and it has never come back in the name of Jesus Christ.
God is faithful who can say amen.
Number three, this advance of God's kingdom that we're talking about.
When we surrender to the King and align with his will, we don't sit still, we get involved in the mission.
When we pray, your kingdom come, we aren't hitting a bunker waiting for the end of the world.
We start advancing and invading the worldly kingdom.
Listen, you have authority to wage war on behalf of the king.
Jesus said this, all authority has been given unto me, therefore go
You might say, okay, what does that mean?
Jesus was telling them that I now have the keys of the kingdom.
I now have all power, all authority.
So now when I tell you to go and make disciples of all nations, you're going to have the power to do it.
When I tell you to start discipling people, you have the power to do it because lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the earth.
You'll never be left without a power source in your life.
Listen, we live between the inauguration of God's kingdom.
when Jesus said repent and the consummation of God's kingdom.
That means warfare is still taking place.
And prayer is how we wage war.
If you'd bring up the next verse, Robin, it's 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verses 3 and 4.
For though we walk in the flesh, now all this means is we're living here on this planet.
This is not referring to sin right here with flesh.
It's just saying we're we're physical human beings.
We do not war
This metaphor is one of Paul's favorites.
He wants us to understand how how challenging this is, how hard this is, how serious this is.
But although we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.
So what that simply means is
We're not going to solve these problems through political means.
Now listen, I'm not saying don't get involved in politics.
I'm just saying that politics is not going to solve the problem that we're trying to solve.
It goes much deeper.
Yes, we need Christians in politics.
Yes, we need righteous people helping to form the laws.
But if we don't change hearts, it doesn't matter what party anyone belongs to.
We have to change hearts for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.
They're not of the flesh.
But they're mighty.
Here's the power word again.
The weapons that we have are mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds.
Let me ask a simple question.
Why do you think Las Vegas is known as Sin City?
Why do you think?
Anyone know?
There's a lot of sin.
Where does the sin come from?
It comes from all those human sources, but do you think there might be some strongholds there?
Do you think there might be some demonic spirits like the demonic spirit of greed?
The demonic spirit of lust, those specifically that rule and reign to a certain degree in that area, and they're not letting go.
And that some person, people, church needs to get on their hands and knees and start pulling down some strongholds in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
See, there's a spirit over this community too.
It's the spirit of leisure.
If you've not recognized it, listen to someone from the outside, okay?
Because there's a lot of people who are too busy for God right now.
There are a lot of people who are enjoying their lives.
Hear me?
I'm not saying don't go on cruises.
I'm not saying don't go enjoy a show or things like that.
What I'm saying is, what is the motivating force in your life?
Is it entertainment or is it God?
Is it my golden years or are they his golden years?
Those are the decisions that we have to make as human beings.
And just because you live in America doesn't mean you have to follow the American dream.
God's dreams for your lives are way better in Jesus' name.
So go back, Robin, to to that original verse in Matthew chapter 6.
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
You're not asking for anything here
Do you guys notice the way this is being phrased?
These are not requests.
They're not passive words.
They are declarative statements.
When you start praying the Lord's Prayer the way he intended, you start taking control of circumstances and events in the spirit realm in Jesus' name
And what you do is you say, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
And you look the devil, you look every demon in the eye and say, back down in Jesus' name.
You have no authority.
Authority in this house.
You have no authority in this family.
You have no authority in this church.
We are children of the living God.
And because we're children of the living God, we're going to hear from our God in Jesus' name.
I mean there's got to be a boldness.
There's got to be a courage when it comes to prayer.
We're not wimpy Christians.
We're not sissy Christians.
You might say, Pastor, isn't that a little harsh?
Well, this is how Jesus puts it in Matthew 11, verse 12.
And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers.
Violence and the violent take it by force.
Our Jesus was no wimpy Christian.
Our Jesus is no wimpy God.
When he saw sin, he confronted it head on.
When he didn't like what was going on in the temple, he started turning tables over.
Not in some human anger, but in righteous anger because he knew it was right.
wrong.
He knew it wasn't the way that God wanted.
He knew that God's house was supposed to be a house of prayer.
Who can say amen?
That's the God that we serve.
You have power literally to wage war on behalf of your king.
When you get to the end of the book of James and
And a lot of people don't know this we were just sharing this at staff this week that uh James is the uh half brother of Jesus.
And he was known, his reputation was, he was known as old camel knees, because he prayed so much he developed these big uh calluses down here that made his knees look like camel knees.
And
And much of the book of James is about the very topic of prayer.
And you get to the very end and he's saying, if you're happy, you should pray.
If you're sick, you should pray.
Call for the elders of the church.
And then he starts wrapping it up with this: the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
I I I start thinking about about the power and and and we're gonna start uh wrapping up a little bit here.
So Pastor, if you'd come on up here.
Uh it's still a lot of scripture here, so so follow with me, probably ten more minutes, but I I just need him here right now.
Matthew chapter
chapter eight verses eight through ten say this.
Can can you move on to the next scripture?
This is so important because we're going to talk about the
power of words and the power of faith and the power of partnership as we as we begin to bring this to a head here.
The centurion answered now now
Remember the story.
A centurion has a sick servant, and he seeks out Jesus because he wants his servant to be healed.
And so the centurion answers and says, Lord
Oh, Jesus said to the centurion, Yeah, I'll come heal your servant.
And he responds, I'm not worthy that you should come under my roof, but only speak a word.
Wait a minute.
I think most people miss this.
And my servant will be healed.
And here's his reasoning.
Here's his thinking, for I also am a man under authority
Are you guys hearing this?
This is so important for us to understand.
Having soldiers under me.
So so the centurion's saying this.
He's saying, I'm smack dab in the middle of this power structure.
There is someone above me
Caesar, maybe uh someone in between, a general.
There that there's there's these authority figures above me, and then I've got a hundred soldiers underneath me
So I am a man under authority, Caesar, and I'm a man that is in authority, and I say.
He just says it
I say to this one, go, and he goes.
And I say to another, come, and he comes.
And to my servant, do this, and he does it.
Next verse, next verse, next verse.
When Jesus heard it, he marveled.
Can you imagine
Being the one or two people on this planet that have ever surprised Jesus.
This guy's not even Jewish.
That's what Jesus says
And he said to those who followed, assuredly I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.
Not even amongst his own disciples.
What did he accuse his disciples of?
They had what kind of faith?
Baby faith.
Almost non-existent faith.
You might say, well, all you need is mustard seed.
Well, they must have had less than that.
Right?
Jesus says a mustard seed is enough, and yet he kept rebuking them.
Where's your faith?
Where's your faith?
Where's your faith?
They saw miracle after miracle after miracle.
Where's your faith?
Wh
Burser Spain
Here's some guy who only heard about Jesus.
And he recognized that Jesus was also under an authority figure, God, and that he was over
and authority.
Or he was over soldiers.
And and that if he said something, sickness be gone, it had to listen.
If he said fish, I know there's only a couple of you in there.
Five?
Okay, you need to feed 5,000.
It's going to happen.
Two loaves?
Oh, I can multiply those so there's 12 baskets left over.
The word was spoken with assurance and with great faith.
Of course, Jesus is going to to
understand because he is the word of God.
But what's the centurion's excuse?
How did he develop this faith?
He heard something about Jesus
And he simply believed the power of words, the power of faith.
Listen, Hebrews 11, 33, 34, and 35, who through faith
subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to
fight the armies of the aliens, women received their dead raised to life again.
The list goes on and on and on and on as to what happened because someone believed God was a man of his word.
Who can say amen?
And then Jesus tells us in Matthew 18, 19 and 20.
Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth
That's the next scripture, Robin.
If two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them.
I just want to highlight a couple of things as we wrap this thing up here, okay?
Two agree.
This is the Greek word symphone, and it just means to speak the same thing.
Okay?
So we are in harmony.
We we're agreeing on something.
Now
Where is it?
It's on earth.
That's what we're praying to be changed, is what's on earth.
Concerning anything that they ask, we're finally at the petition place.
It will be done for them by my listen, Father, we've already learned about that.
In heaven, we learned about that.
For where two or three are gathered together, here's this idea of symphonyo again, agreement in my name.
We learned about that last week.
I am there in the midst of them.
Do you see how all these verses beautifully just go hand in glove?
They work together.
They're beautiful, beautiful.
Tonight, Jesus is not just teaching us words to repeat.
He's teaching us a posture of surrender.
Your kingdom come means Jesus gets the throne of my heart.
Your will be done means I stop
Negotiating obedience on earth as it is in heaven means I become a place where heaven touches earth.
I'm the conduit for this.
And before God changes the world, he asks permission to change each
and every one of us.
So this is what we're gonna do as we wrap things up here.
We still got some praying to do.
All right?
So we've left plenty of time to do those things.
And so the first thing I want to do is I want us to pray for those who need prayer in their families.
So if you have a family issue of any kind, it doesn't matter.
Sickness, um
disagreement, um separation, a prodigal son or daughter.
Would you stand right now?
Where's Tabitha?
Come here.
I want you to pray for these people.
Would you do that?
I would.
Thank you.
And pray for their families, okay?
All right.
Father, we just I'm muted.
Father, we just thank you for tonight.
We thank you for your presence.
We thank you that you came here to meet us tonight.
That it was divine appointment that we came into this house.
And Father, we just thought we'd be able to do that.
Thank you that you are a good father and you meet us right at our point of need.
Father, you meet us right where we are.
You see us, you hear us call.
Hey, Korah.
Oh Father, tonight we lift up.
Our families to you.
We lift up every family in the house tonight, God.
We lift up our children.
We lift up every child that's not here right now, Father.
We lift up every child that needs you in their life, Father.
Every prodigal we say, come home right now.
We lift up every
Every prodigal that's not in the building, Father.
We just say call them home by your spirit, oh God.
We ask you, Father, that you would start pulling on the hearts of your children, Father, that you would start calling to those who have been lost and sin sick and the dark.
Place, oh God, that you would begin to reach forth your spirit right where they are.
I don't care where they are, I don't care if they're on a bar, I don't care if they're lost in in sin.
Father, I ask you to just go into that place and begin to pull their heart and pull them forward.
And say, I want you.
I'm coming for you.
I'm coming for you.
God, let them find you in the dark place that they'll come out towards you, oh God.
They'll come forward into the light that you will provide a place that you'll provide.
a person that will come and meet them and pull them into your presence, oh God.
Oh, we pray for every prodigal.
We pray for every prodigal.
Oh God, we pray for every child that is that is maybe not a prodigal, oh God.
Oh, but maybe they're just distant.
Maybe they're
just some things that they need.
We pray for every need of every child.
Father, we pray for special needs.
We pray for healings.
We pray for every child that is that is sick in body.
We pray for every child that is battling mental illness.
We pray for every child that is not
Well, in their body and their mind.
We just pray right now, oh God, that you would release your healing power.
That you, Jehovah Rapha, are the God who heals us.
And we can count on you, oh God, to bring healing.
To our children.
Hey.
Father, right now I pray for every teenager that's going through this age where there's confusion, where there's so much confusion and trying to split their minds into a different place.
Father, we just right now.
Now we ask you to bring solidarity of mind that they would not be double-minded, that they would hear your voice, and they would walk according to what you say they are, and there would be no confusion with our children.
Father, I pray for every young adult.
I pray every for
Every young adult Lord, that they would be sure footed as they start out.
That they would be sure-footed and they wouldn't forget the way from which they came.
Oh, that every single teaching, every training, everything that you taught them when they were a young child, you said teaching them.
My children, and when they are old, they shall not depart from it.
And so we just call them Father.
We just say thank you.
Our children will not depart.
Our adults, our young adults will not depart from you.
Our young adults will not.
Not depart from what you say that they are and what you have called them to.
Father, I pray for every mother in the room.
I pray for every mother, oh God.
Oh, that you will bring comfort and peace.
Oh, that you would bring
replenishment and refreshing.
Oh Father, in every every mother's heart where there may have been a dry time or a time of of just weariness.
Oh God, we just pray your refreshing water.
We refresh we pray for your refreshing rain.
Oh, to come and fill all the mothers in the house.
Oh, that you would just pour out your spirit and revive your mothers in the house.
Oh, Father, I pray for every father, every man in the building.
Oh, Father, that you
would have them take their place.
Oh, that they would rise up in your name.
That they would rise up in the name of Jesus and take their place in leadership.
That they would rise up and say, I'm not gonna let somebody
Do it for me.
I'm going to be the man of my house.
I'm going to be the man of my home.
And I'm going to make sure that I lead well.
Oh, Father, that you would put a fire within your men.
Oh, that you would put a fire within your men.
In your men, that they would pray, that they would read, that they would seek your face, and they will bring their entire family with them.
Oh, that they would bring the entire church with them, that our altars are flooded with men first.
Oh, that they love.
Lift up their voice and they make declarations in the spirit.
That they raise up their voices and they make declarations in the spirit, and they say, Oh, by the spirit of God, we will follow you, God.
Hey.
Oh Father, we thank you.
We thank you for what you're releasing in every family in this place.
We thank you for what you're releasing in every family in this house.
We thank you for the fi
That you're putting within your families, every family, every family experiencing communion at home and communion everywhere they go, that they may take the presence of the living God with them into the community.
Hey!
In Jesus' name.
Oh, we pray.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Let it be so.
Thank you.
Uh Billy, would you come right up here at this time?
Um We're gonna go to the other
direction now we're gonna pray for our nation and uh uh could somebody give Billy a microphone please and uh Billy's flame is on fire here just so you know and uh he got me one
Of these uh hoodies, also, so we're fanning the flame up here, and so he's gonna pray for the nation right now.
So would you join him in prayer for the nation?
Go ahead.
So, Lord, we have been praying for fresh fire.
Lord God, we've been calling on you.
And Lord, you have precious promises, Lord, in the Bible.
We've heard it tonight, Lord God, that you want us to pray.
Lord, but before we pray, how can we pray to you unless we come to you, Lord God, and confess our sins?
Lord, when we think of this beautiful country.
the United States of America.
Lord, we're not united.
We're split, Lord God.
We fight with each other.
Democrats, Republicans, Lord God, liberals, conservatives.
We're split.
We're split, Lord.
And we're split because this one nation under you.
We've left our God, Lord, in a lot of ways.
We we contest that, Lord God.
We're not what we used to be, Lord.
But Lord, when Zerubula built the second temple, the young people were rejoicing and the old people were crying.
And Lord, there's a movement.
Turning point America, 32.
thousand brand new charters young people in colleges in high school that are calling on you lord god that are turning around lord god lord this church
And other churches, Lord God, have been praying for that fresh fire.
We're looking to you, Lord God, for fresh fire, Lord God.
And Lord, as we pray, you said, Lord, that it
my people would humble themselves and seek your face and pray.
Lord
Would do three things.
You would hear, you would forgive, and you would heal.
Lord, and that's what we're praying for tonight, Lord God, for this country to turn to you.
To have the fresh fire of the Holy Spirit be poured out again, oh Lord.
Lord, since 1973, 65 million babies.
Their blood is spilled on this land, Lord.
We're sorry.
Lord, we need forgiveness, Lord God.
Lord, we come to you, Lord.
We haven't done our part, but Lord, we're looking to you for fresh fire, for fresh wind, Lord God, for fresh power, Lord God.
Lord, and you
as we heard you are the God that answers prayer.
Lord, so we confess, Lord God.
And Lord, you're quick to heal.
You're quick to forgive, Lord God.
You have mercy and compassion.
like no one else, Lord.
And Lord, so we call on you in the precious name of Jesus, Lord, that you would heal our land.
Lord God, and healing our land means that you would pour out a revival.
Holy Ghost revival on us, oh Lord God.
Lord, start here in Oxford Assembly.
Lord God, Lord.
Start in Wildwood, Lord God.
Start in the villages, Lord God.
Start in Oxford, Lord God.
Start in this community.
Lord, fill up Florida, Lord God.
Let the flame go from here.
Let it go to the United States, Lord God.
Lord, we're calling on you.
We're looking to you, Lord God.
There's nothing too hard for you.
You do exceedingly abundantly.
Abundantly above all that we ask or think, Lord God.
Lord, we just come to you and ask, Lord God, that you would just do a mighty work, Lord God.
Lord, we need you.
Lord, we need you.
We need you, Lord God.
Lord, and it's only by you and only by your power that these things are going to be done.
So Lord, we ask that you would do it, Lord God, in the name of Jesus.
Thank you.
So in response to those two prayers, we're going to open up the altars right now for anyone who would like to pray.
And the worship team is going to lead us.
and some songs and uh if you have to go you're free to go at this time but if you desire to spend some time in the presence of God uh the front the altars are open for you and uh his ears are open for you too
